A detailed account

Nicolson BainA detailed account of the battles of Quatre Bras, Ligny, and Waterloo: preceded by a short relation of events, attending the temporary revolution of 1815, in France and concluding with the immediate political consequences of these decisive victories
Edinburgh: printed by Michael Anderson, for John Thomson and Company, Hunter’s Square; Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, London; and John Cumming, Dublin, 1816
Ll.23.2, map opposite title page

Nicolson Bain’s Account was an opportunist publication cashing in on a mass market eager for affordable details of the recent 1815 campaign. Rich in statistic, anecdote and quotation, it was supplemented by an informative plan of the battlefield of Waterloo—hand-coloured here—supplied with both French and English scales. The plan shows an approximation to the state of affairs at around five o’clock, with the Prussians pressing hard on the French right, but it is designed to capture truths about the entire battle. To this end it locates the major events of the day: where General Thomas Picton fell, where Wellington stood for much of the afternoon, where the Prince of Orange was wounded, and so on. The observatory used by Napoleon is shown at the lower left (marked ‘20’).